Five Great Storage Solutions for Small Houses + Small Home Tour

Hello! Today some blog friends and I have gathered together to take you on a tour of our small houses. Come on in and find some inspiration!

How small is small? Well, these days, home sizes range from tiny to tremendous, so it’s all up to you. My home’s living area including bedrooms is about 1800 square feet. We love the features of our super old house, and make the most of organizing our things in every room with a baby, two businesses and lots of hobbies going on within.

If you are new here, welcome. I’m Jessica and this is my favorite space to be, my home. By day I’m a Ph.D. student, but by night I’m an DIY loving gal at heart. Read more about me here and my home here.

In addition to showing you some of the rooms in my place, I put together some ideas on where to store things in your small space too. Because it’s always fun to see how people live and organize in different homes, apartments, barns, condos and rentals. But you need ideas on where to put everything right? No worries, here are five great storage solutions for small houses and a spin around our home.

Use the Furniture

Our home was built in 1900 and doesn’t have many of the typical features you see in home today. No bathroom on the first floor, no closet there either, no mudroom. But we do have a beautiful foyer with a fireplace I’m dying to get working someday #wishlist.

These shelves in the foyer store magazines and seasonal decor, while our coat rack holds my yoga mat, hats and coats. Additional hooks in the side foyer allow us to keep all the coats we need that would typically go in a closet.

Moving into the living room you’ll find a dresser. Yep, they’re not only for bedrooms! This handy thing was a makeover I did long ago and it’s one of my favorite furniture upgrades to date.

In here we keep tools and media. I need a set of tools on every floor. Anyone else like that? One of the drawers is actually empty, which goes to show you how much I love to get rid of stuff. But it’s such a handy piece to have, even in a living room.

Take Advantages of the Walls

Also in the living room is this very old ladder. I spotted it in my in-law’s barn one day and asked to bring it home. Now it holds our blankets instead of having them clutter up the couches. Wall storage is often forgotten, but a great way to take advantage of space, don’t forget to use it.

Don’t Forget Under Your Feet

Baskets are a common way to store things because they are so functional, so pretty, and come in all shapes and sizes. Not to mention you can find them at every price point. The ones above keep our DVDs and magazines at bay. And they keep the entertainment area from looking too busy.

This cloth basket under the side table in the living room was a sale at Target and is home to toys. I like using cloth bins for toys since they won’t get broken and little kids can move them around easily. Keeping baskets on low shelves or under tables keeps them out of the way.

Put Up Some Shelves

My husband and I have a running joke about shelves in our house. Every time I approach him with a storage dilemma he says “I can build some shelves.” While it doesn’t work for every space, in others, shelves are totally necessary.

We put these in the side foyer to increase our shoe storage and get rid of the flimsy plastic ones we had there before. Adding built-in shelves is super easy and can be done in just a few hours. See the how to here.

Bulk it Up

Typical pieces of furniture like side tables, ottomans and night stands can double duty to give you more storage space. Consider getting pieces that have multiple functions.

These dressers work as bedside tables in our master bedroom, and actually hold all of my clothes that aren’t hung in the foyer. I love how weighty they look against the bed and tall curtains, plus they give us lots of space on top for things we need to use.

And here’s another dresser in our room that doesn’t even hold clothes. It has extra sheets, curtains and all my makeup in the top drawers. Who says dressers only have to be for wearables? See this dresser makeover here.

Thanks so much for coming by to see my small home tour. I hope these tips help add function to your rooms!

Here are more posts about my old house:

• Paint Colors in my Home
• My House by the Numbers
• Why I’ll Never Paint Our Wood Trim

Here’s the entire group of friends whose homes you can visit today. Stop by and see these amazing small home tours.

Thursday, February 25th